The present invention relates to whipped cream that can be preserved refrigeration for a long time.
Needing no whipping, whipped cream is convenient to use unlike whipping cream which is supplied as liquid and whipped on use. However, whipped cream, being instable against time, is so liable to reduce the overrun and the machine resistance that it needs freezing for long-term preservation particularly when highly overrun as described in JP-A-60-87750.
JP-A-6-225720 discloses a frothing oil-in-water emulsion composition which can be preserved in a whipped state for a long time under refrigeration.
The whipped cream described in JP-A-60-87750 has a high overrun but should be frozen for preservation and requires thawing, which is inconvenient. The composition according to JP-A-6-225720 can be preserved for a long time by refrigeration but has a low overrun.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide whipped cream which has a high overrun and can be preserved for a long time under refrigeration.
The present invention accomplishes the above object by providing whipped cream characterized by containing substantially no spherical fat particles having a particle diameter of 1 xcexcm or greater (hereinafter also referred to as first whipped cream).
The present invention also accomplishes the above object by providing whipped cream characterized by containing 10% or more of spherical fat particles having a particle diameter of 0.1 xcexcm or smaller (hereinafter also referred to as second whipped cream).
The present invention also accomplishes the above object by providing whipped cream characterized by having such a spherical fat particle size distribution that 20% by volume or more of spherical fat particles have a particle diameter of 0.4 xcexcm or smaller as measured with a Shimadzu laser diffraction particle size analyzer (SALD-1100, supplied by Shimadzu Corp.) on a sample prepared by dispersing whipped cream in ion-exchanged water and ultrasonicating the dispersion (hereinafter also referred to as third whipped cream).